FTTH/FTTP and Gbps internet speed

dotsmada

Honorable
Dec 12, 2012
3
0
10,510
This is not really a hardware question, but I was hoping the tech experts here could answer my question. My neighborhood is fairly new (less than 5 years old) and includes a 100% fiber optic network from AT&T. I live in the suburbs outside of Houston, TX. With Google Fiber being rolled out in select cities I believe AT&T is feeling the heat (competition) and is starting to provide faster speeds to their customers. This is clearly happening in Austin, TX where AT&T is now looking to provide Gbps internet to their customers since Google has come to town and laid down their Google Fiber.

My question is, if my community already has the infrastructure in place to provide super fast internet (I assume that is the case if we have Fiber to the Home) then how difficult would it be for AT&T to begin providing that type of service? Is there some special hardware on AT&T's side that would be required in order to get the faster internet? Currently the fastest internet that they provide is 45 Mbps at $81/month. To me, this seems a bit overpriced considering they are offering 1,000 Mbps in Austin for $70/month to compete with Google.

The Houston area is on the list of what AT&T terms GigaPower internet, but they don't really provide much detail or time frames. In many places in Houston I would assume that there would need to be a lot of infrastructure upgrading which would cost AT&T quite a bit of money so figured it would make sense for them to provide the communities with the infrastructure already in place this GigaPower service. But maybe I am missing something and there are still some significant upgrades that are still required. I'm hoping that someone that currently works or has worked for an ISP in the past would be able to shed some light.
 
It all depens on who owns the infrastructure and then what equipment is in place.

All the equipment could be in place already and it could be as simple as changing the configuration to allow higher speeds, or the speeds could be maxing out the network equipment and it would require a large upgrade. Nothing can be said with any certianty without knowing at&ts equipment in your area.
 

dotsmada

Honorable
Dec 12, 2012
3
0
10,510


That is kind of what I figured, but thought that since it was a new neighborhood they would have installed better equipment that can be easily upgraded. Maybe the next time I see an AT&T tech in my neighborhood I'll ask him what he would need to do to get me Gbps speed.